


A Single Moment

by Fluffypanda



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Deleted Scenes, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22043866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffypanda/pseuds/Fluffypanda
Summary: “It only takes one choice to change the fate of a world, the path of time– the life of one man. The odds can shift in a single moment as millions of possible futures– once inaccessible– open.”
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47
Collections: IronStrange Secret Santa 2019





	A Single Moment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JeromeSankara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeromeSankara/gifts).



> Written for JeromeSankara as part of the IronStrange Haven's Secret Santa Event!
> 
> The prompt: Stephen visiting Tony while he's dusted in his astral form, or anything to do with the new uncovered scrapped goodness, they're all so good and I'm still mourning the loss
> 
> I hope you like it!

Tony peers down into the gloomy depths of the spaceship and sees Strange hanging from nothing, a thousand glass-like needles poised to rip through him. Bile burns at the back of his throat as another suppressed scream floats up from below. He knows all too well the kind of fear that must be consuming Strange at the moment, what it is like to have all your defenses stripped away, to be at the mercy of a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. That was his crucible, how he forged the man he was today.

A gentle tap on his shoulder, startles Tony out of his thoughts. Heart pounding, he swings around, his repulsor at the ready.

He lets his breath escape. It’s only Strange’s red cape. “Wow, you’re a seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty...”

Tony’s mouth drops open. “What the –?”

“I know what you're gonna say.” Peter holds up his hands defensively.

“You should not be here.”

The kid was supposed to be back home. He was supposed to be safe.

“I was gonna go home--”

“I don't wanna hear it.” Tony shakes his head, sweeping his hands out in front of him as if to brush the kid’s excuses away.

“But it was such a long way down and I just thought about you on the way...”

“And now I gotta hear it.”

Tony sees the cape shaking its collar commiseratingly beside him. He never thought he’d be backed up by a piece of fabric, but his life has taken a lot of unforeseen turns in the last few years.

“...And I kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way...”

“God da–” Tony pauses as an idea forms in his head – and that is all it takes before his armor melts off of him, forming into a ball in his hand.

“Mr. Stark?”

“We’ll finish this later. I’ve got a wizard to rescue.” Tony turns to the cape. “You got my back?”

It settles across his shoulders and Tony is filled with a sensation of weightlessness. He gently pushes off the ground with one foot and floats midair. He nods to himself– he can work with this.

“What should I do?” Peter asks.

“Come up with a back up plan if this all goes to hell,” Tony says and he springs into action, leaping off the platform.

Immediately, he sends the ball of nanomachines flying towards Stephen. The armor begins to reform in midair, wrapping around the sorcerer before a single needle can pierce his skin. Then something unexpected happens. Strange’s pendant burns through the shifting sea of metal, carving it’s mark into the armor around it. Strange breaks free of his bonds and shifts into a battle stance, the helmet covering his face and bright blue magic flaring to life around his gauntleted hands.

Tony alights next to Strange and grins. He can definitely work with this.

* * *

  
  


Nebula begins packing up the first aid kit and Tony lets his shirt drop. He thanks her, he thinks. His head is swimming, either from the hunger or the infection. Or possibly from the alien pain meds. He isn’t really sure.

He doesn’t really have the energy to move so he turns his head to stare in fascination at the light reflecting off his helmet a few feet away from him. The ship’s lights are on low to conserve their power, so the bulk of it is coming from his chest and the stars above, below, to every side of them. It makes him feel small, knowing he’s just a speck floating among indifferent astral bodies.

A golden translucent foot steps in front of him and he looks up.

“Aren’t you dead?” He asks, fairly certain this is a hallucination. He doesn’t usually see ghosts that look like recently deceased wizards, but he had re-watched Star Wars with the kid not too long ago.

Stephen Strange shrugged, his cape swirling around him. “In a manner of speaking.”

“What are you doing here then? This is not where I would choose to go if I had literally any other option.” Tony flopped over to look at the ceiling. He knows he really shouldn’t indulge his hallucinations like this, but the blue meanie wasn’t much for conversation.

“Let’s just say I had unfinished business with you.”

Tony doesn’t look at Stephen as he says, “Is this about how I got you killed?”

“I made my own choices, knowing full well where they would take me. That’s the advantage of seeing the future, I suppose. My and the others’ deaths are not yours to shoulder, not really. Their lives on the other hand...”

“Are you saying I can save them?” Tony’s voice is trembling as he pictures the way the kid looked at him before he crumbled into dust. How he begged not to go. He remembered the shock on Quill, Mantis, and Drax’s faces as they disappeared one by one and who knows how many after them did the same. He could make it right.

Then he remembers this is nothing more than a fantasy cooked up in his fevered mind. “I can’t even save myself.”

“You have more resources at your disposal than you realize, Tony. You can save yourself.”

Tony snorted. “Are you going to tell me to ‘use the force’ now?”

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong,” Stephen says, laying his hand on Tony’s chest. “It only takes one choice to change the fate of a world, the path of time– the life of one man. The odds can shift in a single moment as millions of possible futures– once inaccessible– open.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Stephen removes his hand and reveals an eye shaped pendant on Tony’s chest. The remaining nanomachines bubble up from the housing unit and form a chest plate around it, brimming with power, with magic.

“Even without the time stone, the Eye of Agamotto is a powerful artifact,” Stephen explains. He looks at Tony and brushes his cheek with one ghostly hand. “There is always hope, Tony.”


End file.
